Do any of you have experience working with 3D modeling software?
The reason I ask is. . . I've been dinking around in Second Life a fair bit, and it would be very cool to have a Tesla Roadster in the game.
Pontiac and Scion both have a presence in the game. Actually Pontiac have a whole sim (like a city block) of their own, with those ugly little "Solstice" roadsters on pedestals all around it. It's a bit of a joke, I think.
The Tesla, however, would be great for environmental groups to put on display. Groups like "Clean Energy Now" have been setting up display areas in SL where they can show off wind turbines, solar arrays, eco-friendly houses, etc. It would be great to see a Roadster sitting in front of the green house.
I think SL has a lot of potential (mostly untapped, thus far) as an educational tool. One of the best areas I've seen in SL is the International Space Flight Museum where they have full-scale models of rockets and launch vehicles. They've got everything from Dr. Robert Goddard's first liquid-fuel rocket to NASA's latest "Ares 5" moon rocket. It really shows what's possible in the virtual setting.
My building skills are limited, but I've begun trying to create a full-scale model of an IEC Polywell nuclear fusion reactor.
As for the Roadster. . . Creating vehicles in SL is a bit tricky because they can't be constructed from more than 30 primitive shapes, or "prims". As a result, most cars look a bit crude. But I had two ideas for working around that. First, we have a new feature called sculpted prims. These are shapes which can be designed in 3D programs like Maya or Blender and then exported to SL. So. . . you could create whole body panels, or even a whole car body, in one prim.
The other thing is, if your vehicle doesn't have to actually work and move under its own power, then there is no prim limit. And honestly, vehicles never work worth a darn in SL anyhow. I once tried to drive a Solstice and I made it about 20 feet before crashing it. The netlag is terrible. So really, vehicles are better thought of as static display items.
The reason I ask is. . . I've been dinking around in Second Life a fair bit, and it would be very cool to have a Tesla Roadster in the game.
Pontiac and Scion both have a presence in the game. Actually Pontiac have a whole sim (like a city block) of their own, with those ugly little "Solstice" roadsters on pedestals all around it. It's a bit of a joke, I think.
The Tesla, however, would be great for environmental groups to put on display. Groups like "Clean Energy Now" have been setting up display areas in SL where they can show off wind turbines, solar arrays, eco-friendly houses, etc. It would be great to see a Roadster sitting in front of the green house.
I think SL has a lot of potential (mostly untapped, thus far) as an educational tool. One of the best areas I've seen in SL is the International Space Flight Museum where they have full-scale models of rockets and launch vehicles. They've got everything from Dr. Robert Goddard's first liquid-fuel rocket to NASA's latest "Ares 5" moon rocket. It really shows what's possible in the virtual setting.
My building skills are limited, but I've begun trying to create a full-scale model of an IEC Polywell nuclear fusion reactor.
As for the Roadster. . . Creating vehicles in SL is a bit tricky because they can't be constructed from more than 30 primitive shapes, or "prims". As a result, most cars look a bit crude. But I had two ideas for working around that. First, we have a new feature called sculpted prims. These are shapes which can be designed in 3D programs like Maya or Blender and then exported to SL. So. . . you could create whole body panels, or even a whole car body, in one prim.
The other thing is, if your vehicle doesn't have to actually work and move under its own power, then there is no prim limit. And honestly, vehicles never work worth a darn in SL anyhow. I once tried to drive a Solstice and I made it about 20 feet before crashing it. The netlag is terrible. So really, vehicles are better thought of as static display items.
